British Columbia has over 20Prostate Cancer Support Groupsmeet once a month. This group is focused on providing help to Chinese-speaking men, but everyone is welcome. We speak Mandarin, Cantonese and English. We meet onthe second Thursday of every monthfrom 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Richmond Public Library (2/F Brighouse Main Branch, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC V6Y 1R8). Please register online atThe Richmond Public Library website (or call 604-231-6413 for registration). Join us forthe professional presentation and talk to other men and family members who have been dealing with prostate cancer for weeks, months or even years.

If you want to chat with a survivor one on one, you may drop in our walking club.The Richmond Blue Walkerswalk on every Tuesdays and Thursdays 9-11am, 5-10 km along the beautiful river dykes and parks in Richmond (Walk in the Richmond Shopping Centre during the raining days or cold seasons). Click here for the scheduleor contact Daniel Leung at 604-836-6423 for the locations and meeting places.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Toxic BPA cans are still on the shelves, despite the clear warnings from health-advocacy groups that the industrial chemical Bisphenol A, known as BPA, may cause hormone disruption and increased blood pressure. A new study says that over half of all canned goods sold in the United States still contain the BPA epoxy resin inside of the cans.

The full report, released Wednesday by a group of non-profits on the website ToxicFoodCans.org, shows that two thirds of the cans tested contain BPA, including food products sold by some of America's largest food companies. For those companies that have removed BPA, there is little information made available to the public as to what chemical substance has replaced it.

The report, which analyzed close to 200 canned foods, said that “67 percent of the cans tested (129 out of 192) contained BPA-based epoxy in the body and/or the lid,” including 100 percent of the 15 Campbell’s cans tested, 71 percent of the 14 Del Monte cans tested and 50 percent of the 12 General Mills cans sampled.

According to the Mayo Clinic, exposure to BPA is a concern because of “possible health effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children. Additional research suggests a possible link between BPA and increased blood pressure.”

Still the FDA says BPA is “safe” at low levels in food.

Study co-author Janet Nudelman, director of program and policy at the advocacy group Breast Cancer Fund, said the results were surprising, even to them, since most consumers assume that major canned food companies have already transitioned away from using BPA.

“This is shocking to us because we’ve been hearing for years now that the canned food industry en masse was moving away from BPA,” Nudelman said.

Some of the companies named in the report have since promised to do something about BPA.

Adds Time, via MSN News: “Campbell's announced that it would ‘complete a transition to cans which do not use Bisphenol A (BPA) linings by the middle of 2017.’ Del Monte also announced this week that it would phase out BPA this year.”